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It's payback time as SK girls declaw Bears

"Comparisons such as night and day or Jekyll and Hyde could be drawn between the two games played between the girls high school basketball teams at South Kitsap and Capital this season. From SK's standpoint, the Wolves' Kristen Truax said the difference between the first encounter in December and last Tuesday's rematch was like comparing jeers to cheers.Looking at the video from our game at Capital (in December), oh my gosh, this is a totally different team, Truax said. Mentally, we were out of it in the first game, which was also the first outing after the resignation of former coach Gary Wilson.That emotional loss to the Cougars Dec. 10 was erased Wednesday as the first-place Wolves--9-2 in the Narrows League Bridge Division--handed second-place Capital a 50-36 defeat.That just shows how far we've come and how hard we've been working, Truax said.The win gave SK a three-game lead over Capital heading into last night's game against Mount Tahoma and clinched at least a tie for first place in the Bridge Division with three games remaining.For the second straight game, the Wolves showed they could win without their main weapon, Angela Sampson, who mostly sat on the bench because of foul trouble.Senior guard Kristin Boyd fell just three steals away from a triple-double the hard way. She finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals.Junior Nicole Eggebraten, who added nine points, also got into the thievery with four steals.The Wolves combined for 15 steals and forced the Cougars into 21 turnovers.We're just trying to focus on defense more, Eggebraten said. Capital had shooters and they had players, and we just had to turn our defense on.Eggebraten said SK coach Doug Green emphasized the importance of getting a victory against Capital.He came into practice and said this game had a lot of meaning and could be a decider for them or for us, so we needed to go in there with a lot of intensity, she said.The stingy defense showed in the third quarter, holding Capital to two points.We practice every day on helpside defense and we do deny drills consistently every day, Truax said. Defense is going to pull through for you, and that's what happened tonight.Eggebraten said the win against Capital was a confidence-builder heading into the final two games of the regular season.The Wolves still have a pair of games to win before they can think of a rematch with Bellarmine for the No. 1 seed into the West Central District tournament. They host Stadium Friday at 7:30 p.m and then travel to Peninsula Feb. 15 for the final regular-season game.They will need contributions from Sampson. Her absence was felt against Capital on offense, although the Wolves showed they can win with balanced scoring."

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